Friday, October 12, 2012

So last weekend we put the chickens in the coop even though it was not finished. They were just WAY too crowded in the box! I'm so lucky to have my awesomely talented husband who can do these things for me. I told him that I thought a chicken coop was an awesome 10th anniversary present and he just laughed at me. Hey, I'm a simple girl!

Handsome husband doing the roof!

The coop!

We still need to put the siding on and make the chicken door and chicken run, but it was closed in so the chickens could be in there! It's 10x10 and we plan on a 20x20 outside run for them. Everything I have read recommends at least 4 to 10 square feet per chicken for happy, thriving chickens. We will have 450 square feet for 22 chickens! Yes that's 20 square feet per chicken. Hey, room to grow our flock if we want! I don't want to have to do this again! We live in the city limits of our town and town regulations say that we may have up to 49 chickens inside the limits. I like living in the mountains sometimes! Freedom is prized. :)

Claire and Chandler trying out the coop

Our temporary set up

We laid a bale and a half of straw on the floor of the coop and hung the feeder and heat lamp from the rafters. The tree branches are temporary roosts until we can build some (and they are big enough to climb up to them!). The waterer is in the corner of the coop, but eventually it will be in the run so it doesn't get the straw wet.

Their new home!

We transported them down from the porch in rubbermaid containers very carefully. Excuse my kid's big winter coats! It was a little bit of a cold snap that weekend and they were cold! Silly kids.

The girls! As far as I can tell - and I probably have been obsessing over this too much - we have 6 Black Stars, 5 Plymouth Barred Rocks, 4 Buff Orpingtons, 3 Rhode Island Reds, 3 Dark Cornish and 1 bonus Easter Egger! (She is the white one on the right side.)

Chandler and Daddy petting one of the Buff Orpingtons

Claire making a silly face with her favorite chicken "Ella"

I can't wait for them to be able to scratch and peck outside - hopefully within the next few weeks we will have the outside run ready. And then yummy brown eggs in early spring!

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Last month was our county fair - one of the last purely agricultural fairs in the country. Fun was had by all and this year our homeschool co-op got to decorate a booth! We had lots of fun and I think it turned out great!

The theme was "Home Grown Goodness" - I think that is the definition of homeschoolers!

Each family decorated a plant with our "Home Grown Kids" - this one is Claire and Chandler!

Claire

Little wannabe farm kids

They LOVED petting the horse!

The chickens were outgrowing their little washing machine box and we had to upgrade them to a refrigerator box. They were very happy to have the space and kept running back and forth once we put them in there!

No more room!

After some creativity to make it closed in. Have you ever tried to get out of a refrigerator box while pregnant? That was interesting!

5 minutes without food equals starvation at this age! ;) But they loved their new little roosting branch.

The coop at that point.

Daddy has made great progress on the coop. It's 95% done now! I will update once I download more pictures. Promise!

I am a pretty nerdy, slightly hippie, homeschooling mama of four minions. Busy loving and teaching my 2 girls and 2 boys with my husband of 14 years. Right now I'm holding on to my sanity and trying to help my children grow into themselves!